PORT ANGELES — The city of Port Angeles has adopted its balanced budget for 2025, with total revenue and expenses projected to be about $156.7 million.
Those numbers represent a 15.2 percent decrease of the budget compared with 2024, City Manager Nathan West said during a November city council meeting.
Expense reductions, down $28 million when compared to last year, are largely due to changes in projected capital project expenses, according to city Finance Director Sarina Carrizosa.
The largest category of expenses is for other services and charges, which makes up about 27 percent. Almost 24 percent of the city’s expenses are for capital projects.
Personnel benefits, salaries and wages together make up about 23 percent, or about $41 million. That is a $1.1 million increase from 2024, due to expected cost of living increases, some salary adjustments and increases in total medical benefits.
There also are a few temporary positions added to the budget, as well as three new permanent positions: a capital projects inspector, a utility worker and a part-time information support specialist.
The other expense categories include supplies, intergovernmental services, capital, debt services, government-to-government payments for services and funds designated for reserves.
Total revenue collection of $156.7 million across all the city’s funds is an overall reduction of about $28 million compared with 2024, which Carrizosa called a “pretty heavy project year.”
A conservative approach was taken when estimating revenue collections for next year, Carrizosa said during a city council meeting in October.
The revenue collection prediction for next year is reduced due to this year’s use of reserves, transfers and grant revenues that are not anticipated next year.
“We had a number of very large projects that occurred in 2024 that were associated with grant funds,” Carrizosa said.
Overall, the city derives about 45 percent of its revenue by charging for goods and services, mainly utilities. Use of reserves accounts for about 19 percent of revenue, with taxes making up about 11 percent. Citywide, taxes will see about a 2.5 percent increase, Carrizosa added.
However, the general fund — the main operating fund for the city — is “quite a different picture from citywide revenue,” Carrizosa said.
The general fund’s revenues and expenses are balanced at about $27.1 million — with the use of $287,000 in reserves for one-time capital and large specialized projects.
The general fund balance is about 6 percent less than the budget in 2024.
Taxes make up the majority of the general fund revenue, bringing in about 61 percent, primarily through property, sales and utility taxes. About 27 percent is from charges for goods and services, and the rest comes from intergovernmental revenue, licenses and permits, fines and penalties, other financing sources and miscellaneous revenue.
About 67 percent of general fund expenditures go toward personnel costs, 18 percent go to other services and charges, 11 percent are for intergovernmental services and 3 percent are for supplies.
In addition to the city’s general fund, it also has special revenue funds, a debt service fund, enterprise and utility funds, internal service funds, fiduciary funds, permanent funds and capital funds.
Most of the revenue collected by these funds, such as lodging tax revenue, can legally only be used for specific purposes.
Key concepts that staff kept in mind while building the budget include enhancing community resilience, increasing grant opportunities, addressing the housing crisis and investing in infrastructure, according to a city council agenda item.
An emphasis also was put on continuing services.
“In 2025, services will be maintained without impacting the city’s fiscal position,” Carrizosa said.
To view the entire adopted budget for 2025, visit the city’s website at cityofpa.us/152/Budget.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
